ESPN: "IS ARod a true Yankee now?"

[Pared]

Re: ESPN: "IS ARod a true Yankee now?"

2003 - Rangers record in last year with A-Rod: 71-91
2004 - Rangers record in first year without A-Rod: 89-73

FWIW, they did have a one year bounce-back. Their pitching staff in 03, the last year with A-Rod, was an abortion and probably responsible for their stink. In 04 is was a lot better (and still awful).

Damn it, I was looking for those numbers. I was absolutely sure they did better as I saw it on ESPN one day and they spotlighted it.

Thanks for the info.

[NYJets]

Re: ESPN: "IS ARod a true Yankee now?"

Who cares. As long as A-Rod ever does well, his team suffers. There was a great article on ESPN once called the Ewing Factor that rings true here.

Great read and hits on some really good points.

It's amazing logic.

Same logic as "Peyton Manning will never win a superbowl."

[Pared]

Re: ESPN: "IS ARod a true Yankee now?"

The difference between the article and your comment is one has stats to back their claim.

[NYJets]

Re: ESPN: "IS ARod a true Yankee now?"

What stats?

I love Bill Simmons, but first off the whole event that started the Ewing theory doesn't make too much sense since the Knicks had already beaten the Heat to become I think the 2nd 8th seed to beat a 1 at the time, and they had swept the Hawks. And weren't they up 1-0 in the series against Indiana, and then lost game 2 in the game he got hurt? They won the series without him and then got manhandled by the Spurs, so it's hard to see where they got better.

2nd this is baseball. In other sports, yea sometimes losing a star player can cause teams to play differently, and sometimes they can be a better team. Losing MVP numbers in baseball and replacing them with an average player does not make you a better team.

[Benicio10]

Re: ESPN: "IS ARod a true Yankee now?"

A-Rod is the best player the Yankees ever had, and yes that includes Babe Ruth, Mantle, DiMaggio, Gehrig. Yankee fans don't appreciate what they have because of his post season struggles, but that can change in a year.

Barry Bonds is the greatest player to ever live and he never did well in the playoffs until the run where he carried the Giants and we almost beat the Angels if Dusty didn't blow it in Game 6.

Back to A-Rod, i believe without a doubt he's the best Yankee ever because if you put him back in the 30s he would do even better than Ruth. He's stronger, faster bat speed, better fielder, didn't play against pitchers who paced themselves for 9 innings, played against black players, you name it. A-Rod is a better baseball player than Ruth was. If you put Ruth in today's game he'd be a quality hitter but nothing near the elites.

If the Yanks lose him and convince themselves "he wasn't a true Yankee", it may be the worst decision they've made in a long time.

[nkhera1]

Re: ESPN: "IS ARod a true Yankee now?"

Who cares. As long as A-Rod ever does well, his team suffers. There was a great article on ESPN once called the Ewing Factor that rings true here.

Great read and hits on some really good points.

But baseball is such an individualistic sport. I mean unless A-Rod is a clubhouse cancer, I really don't see how he can be detrimental. His bat is a tremendous asset and he usually plays defense at a Gold-Glove caliber level. How does he make his teams worse?

[EWRMETS]

Re: ESPN: "IS ARod a true Yankee now?"

A-Rod is the best player the Yankees ever had, and yes that includes Babe Ruth, Mantle, DiMaggio, Gehrig. Yankee fans don't appreciate what they have because of his post season struggles, but that can change in a year.

You only say that because you've seen ARod play and the other guys played over 50 years ago. There's no way you can tell me that ARod is better than Babe Ruth. There's such a higher discrepancy between the average player of Babe's era and Babe than there is with the average player and ARod.

[fugazi]

Re: ESPN: "IS ARod a true Yankee now?"

ARod is better than Ruth...

[SPTO]

Re: ESPN: "IS ARod a true Yankee now?"

ARod is better than Ruth...

What utter stupidity. I'll just throw out one stat Ruth outhomered the entire AL numerous times. He literally lifted baseball out of the dead ball era.

[CMH]

Re: ESPN: "IS ARod a true Yankee now?"

When did I say Brosius was the best 3B in baseball?

When did I say you did?

[clerks37]

Re: ESPN: "IS ARod a true Yankee now?"

It don't matter because Arod will be a RED SOX player next year